It is typical of Mark Knopfler that when I designed (!) the header above, I totally and completely forgot to include him, despite the fact that some of my favourite songs ever are Dire Straits songs- far more so, say, than flashy David Bowie or glittery shouty Freddie Mercury.
The mild-mannered, unassuming, self-effacing genius of the rock stage, Mark Knopfler looks like a bank clerk who happened to wander on stage and accidentally picked up a guitar. It is only when he starts murmuring those sorrowful, gentle songs -no screams and howls for him- that you feel an ache and tug in your heart, and you realize that you are listening to pure greatness.
Take Romeo and Juliet, perhaps the most beautiful, most sorrowful song of all time. Here I am, self-confessedly and loudly vomiting on romantic relationships as packaged by Hollywood and the western media factory and shovelled down the throats of the masses. Here I am, continuously stating that I do not know a married couple who do not look at each other without a spark of hatred in their eyes, without an edge of loathing as their bodies move pass each other in the hallway. Yet here I am, listening to Romeo and Juliet, feeling the pang and desire of true forbidden love, yearning and wishing.
I think the last paragraph is brilliant; but not the rest of the post.
Well, the first part of the post is the setting the stage, laying the context, as it were, for the brilliant finale.
Like the first five minutes of “Estranged”, you could say.
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